I was really excited about the onlays. After watching the video, I played around with all of the onlays to get a feel for them and get started thinking about their uses. This is a completely new and different kind of product: it’s neither a mold nor an impression mat, yet serves the function of both.

Of the five onlays, three were chevron. I absolutely love chevron—and the chevron onlays will definitely get a lot of use—but I wanted to challenge myself a bit. Our initial concept used the squares onlay but had random painted scribbles in a pastel palette in some of the squares. We decided to go with a classic yet contemporary white-on-white design. In addition to the onlay, we made a hydrangea pomander ball that we created by adhering gumpaste hydrangea petals to a fondant-covered styrofoam ball.

I love the clean, geometric look of the squares juxtaposed against the feminine, organic flower. I also like that it pushed me creatively, and allowed me to cross “make white-on-white cake” off my list of 2013 design goals!

Thank you for including me on this fun challenge.

We spent several days thinking of the best use of the product. The diamond pattern worked very well. We LOVE the multiple textures on this cake.

I thought [the Silicone Onlays] were pretty cool! I felt certain that the edges of the molds would scuff up the icing on the cake, but they didn’t. I tried to use as many of the Onlays as possible without making the design look too busy. That’s also why I stuck with a simple color scheme. For the final design, I used fondant glue, an X-Acto™ knife to pick out unwanted fondant areas of the onlay and a bead mold for the borders.

I’m really into the charcoal gray and pink color combination, so I really liked the colors. I also liked how easy and exact the stripes went onto the cake. I didn’t have a pasta attachment so I just rolled out the MMF and guessed on the thickness— it seemed to work well. I would definitely recommend them for others to use and might purchase others down the road.

My first reaction to the Marvelous Mold Silicone Onlays was, “Oh boy, this is going to be a challenge!” Before deciding on which elements to use, I made a sample of all of them. I didn’t use any specific tools in my final design.

My favorite thing on the two layer cake was the way I was able to apply the layers on the bottom tier to cover the entire cake. I really liked the way I was able to apply 3 different shades of fondant on the Onlay to give it a unique design. On the gift box cake, I loved being able to use the Onlay at the bottom, both in an upright and upside down method. I also loved the way I was able to apply different colors of fondant inside the diamond designs, and how you can use parts of the Onlays in different ways to create different looks.

I really enjoyed using the Onlays. They were easy to use and made decorating much quicker. I also love that the design comes out with clean edges and how much versatility you have to create different looks.

Our initial reaction to the Onlays product was that it was a very good idea for some designs, especially geometric. I really like the fact that, because all of the designs are based on Pi, the design on an even-numbered round cake will always meet up in “the back.” While the larger Onlays patterns are 4″ tall the patterns are created seamlessly, allowing you to trim and stack them to fit the height of any cake, which we did.

As the cake artists were all sent different designs, we wanted to make the most out of our choices. Everyone has made zebra and harlequin/diamond patterns, so we wanted to do it a little differently. We thought that the “zig zag” border mold coordinated nicely with the harlequin pattern, but didn’t want to use the traditional black and white zebra colors so we softened the look with pale gray and yellow. We also wanted to add some femininity by using pearl borders, jeweled swags and flowers.

We used three other Marvelous Molds products: the ruffle, the jewel swag and my favorite, the chain mold. We also used a wooden clay knife, some tweezers for adding the pearls and a small knife. For the flowers, we made a silicone mold of a “hens and chicks” plant leaves. We used a couple of dusty miller leaves as templates and cut out the gumpaste with an X-Acto™ knife and tape to make a bundle of about 10 toothpicks. We did this by stabbing and twisting into the silver craspedia (gray balls) flowers to add texture.

Our favorite thing about this cake is the small divider tier that has the two rows of diamonds designs and the chain mold. It adds a lot to the cake, making it more modern and allowing us to add the optical illusion of the jeweled swags on the tier above.

When I opened the package from Marvelous Molds, I was so excited with the onlay patterns they sent and couldn’t wait to start playing around with them. But after watching the onlay tutorial, I became worried that I wouldn’t be able to use them because, sadly, my mixer doesn’t have a pasta attachment. I was so pleased and relieved to learn that they work just as well and easily without one!

I was drawn to the Scalloped Lattice and Lovely Links patterns. They just screamed “boho-chic” to me, so I knew that I wanted to create a pair of complementing cakes in shades of seafoam green, gold, coral and white for a Bohemian-chic inspired affair.

My favorite thing about this set of cakes is the scalloped pattern on the smaller cake… I love how the gold pattern pops against the light seafoam green!

Thank you to Cake Central and Marvelous Molds for this very awesome opportunity!

When my package came from Marvelous Molds, I was so excited I was dancing! It was wrapped pretty with wrapping paper and ribbon, so it was super exciting to open. When I saw the silicone onlays and figured out what they were for, my initial reaction was “Wow, what an awesome way to make the whole process of putting different designs on the sides of your cake a lot easier!” In my package were three different chevron onlays, a scalloped onlay and a diamond border onlay. Then I sort of hit a brick wall when I thought “Oh no… how do a make a cake with chevron that’s not already been done?”

I really, really thought and mulled over the design of my cake. I had three previous designs worked out in my head and on paper that I knew were nice… but I wasn’t in love with them. I really was struggling with the design inspiration for this cake because I really wanted to think outside the box and come up with a neat way to incorporate them that wasn’t the norm. I was also having a hard time deciding how I would get the the different designs into the cake. It wasn’t necessary, but I wanted to try.

Then one day I was listening to a song and it was off the soundtrack for The Great Gatsby… the soundtrack art was the movie poster. I was looking at it dreamily and thought, “Some of those shapes look like chevron, and I bet if you cut up the fondant pieces and played with them a bit, you get this design from the onlays.” It took me about a minute for that to sink in and then I was pretty much over the moon. “OH MY GOSH! This is IT!” and immediately went to work looking for inspiration photos and drawing up sketches. I was looking at the onlays when I realized that all the pieces actually DID fit together, when presented in an Art Deco/Great Gatsby theme!

I used many tools to get the final design of my cake… First and foremost, I used all three of the onlay designs provided by Marvelous Molds and had a great time using them, too. I used them how they were intended to be used, but also tried different things with them, too. For the middle tier, I used the chevron onlays but pulled the pieces out and messed with and cut them smaller. I also used most of my gumpaste tools, a brooch mold that I made, a Wilton silicone mold for the pearls and then various luster dusts.

My most favorite part of my cake is the middle tier. I was inspired by the movie poster for The Great Gatsby and just love all of the design that covered that. It was so intricate and difficult to do and I spent nearly eight hours just cutting and placing the pieces. However, I feel like I did a pretty good job and, to me, it looks absolutely fantastic.

This contest was absolutely amazing… it was so much fun, from the moment I was contacted by Cake Central to participate all the way to the photo shoot and seeing my cake finished and glowing in the lights on display. I loved it. Thanks Cake Central, for picking me to be in the contest. I feel like it’s such an honor.

Also, I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did, and I wish them all good luck!

I thought these Onlays were so clever! Ideas immediately started going through my mind. I wished I had had the checkerboard when I was making a 50s sock hop dance floor. Time constraints are what ultimately influenced how many Onlays I used on the cake. I decided on the [idea of the] double wedding ring because it’s such a timeless design. The double wedding ring influenced the design of the fantasy flowers, [which have] the illusion of rings at the end of the petals.

My favorite thing about this cake is the light, summery [color scheme] and the overall visual effect of the 3 [same-sized] tiers. The repetition of the Onlay pattern and the flowers allows for a fun and “busy” look that’s not overwhelming.

It wasn’t until I had the thin and flexible Onlay in my hands that I really understood the difference between it and a traditional mold. With the set of damask and stripes I received, my mind initially went to a timeless black and white design. But I was soon distracted by the burgers sizzling on my grill and the strawberry lemonade in my hand— there was no way summer’s vibrant colors were going to pass by this design! I immediately zeroed-in on an emerald green damask and built the color palette and design from there. Onlays used for the cake included the damask pattern, regalia and gala stripe. This cake just makes me smile.

I love color and mixing up classic elements to create a whimsical and playful design. Be it for a preppy summer wedding or a milestone birthday bash, this cake is not going to go unnoticed in a corner! I very much enjoyed using the Onlays. Watching the DVD was key, and after a couple of test strips, I was able to turn them out quite quickly. This method is faster, easier and more forgiving than using a stencil and royal icing. I also appreciate that this is a tool that is easy to store with my supplies (unlike the electronic cutter I have collecting dust in the back of the closet). I am looking forward to expanding my collection of Onlays.

I was excited to receive my package in the mail with the Onlays. I had no idea what to expect, but was intrigued by the new product and was looking forward to using them. I decided to use the chevron silicone Onlay because I had been wanting to make a chevron themed cake for some time. The center tier was stamped from a stencil. My favorite thing about this cake is the colors. I love really colorful cakes and enjoyed getting to play around with that so much. I had a lot of fun creating this cake and was very excited to create it for the competition.